Regions of the world that previously lagged in terms of cancer drug sales are now growing much faster than the established regions, a report from The Business Research Company shows. Fastest is Eastern Europe, where the market will grow at nearly 12% a year up to 2021, while Asia Pacific’s growth rate will be second fastest at 7.3% a year. This catch-up by these less economically developed regions will mean that the global market, worth $126 billion in 2017, will grow at 8.8 % a year up to 2021. In the established regions, North America, and Western Europe, which together accounted for nearly 80% of the market in 2017, growth is also expected to accelerate, to 6% and 6.8% respectively.

Anti-cancer or anti-neoplastic agents are the drugs that prevent or inhibit or halt the proliferation and maturation of neoplasms, an abnormal growth of tissues commonly called tumors. These drugs prevent the growth of malignant tumors by affecting the process of cell division or by damaging the DNA and initiate apoptosis or by preventing the development and spread of neoplastic cells.

Drugs expenditure by region is related to many factors – size of population, and especially of the older population, and GDP per capita, but also regulatory systems and physician attitudes as well as disease incidence. Worldwide there were about 14 million new cases of cancer diagnosed in 2012, a figure that is expected to increase to 23.6 million by 2030.

New drugs tend to be more expensive, while those out of patent can see their price lowered dramatically by the launch of generics. Rates of adoption of new drugs vary widely from country to country: Austria, France, Switzerland and the United States are seen as leaders in the uptake of new cancer drugs, while the uptake is low and slow for many drugs in New Zealand, Poland, the Czech Republic, South Africa and the UK.

The 8.8% growth in the global market for cancer drugs compares with a growth rate of 5.2% for pharmaceuticals in general.

Unlike the market for pharmaceuticals as a whole, where the top ten players account for less than a third of the market, the sales of two companies, Switzerland’s Hoffman-La Roche and Novartis make up nearly 30% of the global total for oncology drugs, and those of the top ten nearly two-thirds.

Where To Learn More
Read the Oncology Drugs Global Market Report 2018 from The Business Research Company for information on the following:

The Business Research Company is a Business Intelligence Company which excels in company, market and consumer research. It has offices in the UK, the US and India and a network of trained researchers in 15 countries globally.